AIM

MSN

Website URL

ICQ

Yahoo

Jabber

Skype

Location

Interests

The unrelenting, swarming, terrifying tide that is known as the Skaven... Also known as "skrit skrit of death-death to all, but maybe save a few bakers as they make delicious cookies and cupcakes!"
I'm playfully blaming a wolf for this thread, but it's a different one for a change. This time it was @Chaoswolf!
This is going to be a looooong project. Arguably it already is, since most of the initial contents of this army were purchased over a decade ago, but I have a tentative goal in mind of "fully finished by 2020" which gives me a year and eight months to work on it in between all my other projects - a goal I hope I can manage. It was originally supposed to be assembled six weeks after I purchased the 25th anniversary army box, and then there'd be a campaign, prizes and whatnot, but being stupidly busy with work kind of prevented that from happening back in the day and I wound up backing out of that event/tournament. Later on, Isle of Blood was added in. Either way, I've always wanted to have a big, GINORMOUS HORDE OF DOOM, and the Skaven definitely portray such in my eyes Always did like their lore, and more importantly, the models, the fluff, and the fact they're murderous, backstabbing buggers! Eshin has always been my favourite, but Skryre is definitely a close second due to their shiny shiny blasty murder-kill anything in their path.
Why the focus on Pestilens though? Well, truth be told, any good kill-kill stab-stab from the Skaven is going to be comprised of the various different factions, but the biggest part is that their models are some of the most eye catching to me. That and I already had a bunch of them, so I figured why not! Their siege weapons are also rather lovely, at least the Plague Furnace. I'm still debating about the Plagueclaw, but for now I still plan on having two in there for symmetry and versatility
At the moment, I only have about half (or so) the units I'd like to have, but I'll work on acquiring the rest over time. What do I have right now? (Spoilers added to be friendlier to mobile users)
(So.... Assuming I counted correctly, we're talking 201 238 minis)
And what's being added in?
(So.... about another 243 small models, 2 small siege units, and 11 siege weapons/behemoth added in bringing that to a grand total of 444 481 small units, 2 smaller siege units, and 11 large siege weapons. It's 454 491 small models total if you factor in the Mordheim models I probably have kicking around somewhere o_O)
Just for my own calculations, I'm writing down in a spoiler what I think will wind up being the entirety of the army...
...I kind of figured that if I'm going to go in, I'm going to go ALL IN. Sure, it's technically an army that's illegal to field due to too many leaders (18/8 if you include the on foot Grey Seer, 17 if you don't), and too many behemoths (7/5) with the new AoS rules, but it will give me that nice variety I crave, and flexibility to play in pretty much any size game. It will also look downright insane on a shelf once it's done I suspect. Technically, it's also a 8,940 point army as currently written, but that's just using info from the Warscroll builder, and not making use of any Battalions, which could theoretically change the composition of this army, and have me add (or possibly subtract) models.
Come to think of it, odds are I'll wind up taking a good look through the 9th age's website to get ideas for various other miniatures, because while this is technically an army I might field, I just want a nice, varied horde, and nothing says varied quite like adding in minis from several other companies ...Doubly so when some of their miniatures are a lot nicer looking (like say, the Jezzails, or even rat swarms). For example, Otherworld, Reaper, and Windmaster all have models that can easily fit in ~_^
Now... No good thread is without pictures, so here's a part of the reason why the next several orders from Reaper are going to have a decent amount of bases in them...
^That there is what I've been able to round up so far that isn't still in a sealed box. At least most are assembled, but there's that one annoying thing... They're all on 20mm square bases, and Age of Sigmar tends to prefer them being on round bases (most being 25mm, but some being other sizes)... Not to mention the fact i tend to prefer circular bases anyways. Thankfully, I used superglue for almost all of them, so that will help IMMENSELY. I'll also be doing up bases for each and every one of them, which is probably going to chew through a decent amount of my various supplies, given that the last time I did up some bases (earlier this week) I chewed through half of the 200g of Magic Sculpt I have (although to be fair, there were 2x 60mm and 16x 25mm bases for my Tau, even if it was just the broken concrete stamp it still uses up a good amount of putty).
I also greatly prefer the nice lip that Reaper's bases have, because it lets me try and have the added in designs be relatively flush with the "expected" height, unless I otherwise plan on having them be higher (like say, for heroes and/or leaders)
^ So here we have the bases for what was originally going to be my Censer Bearers, but it turns out those are supposed to be on 32mm bases, so instead these will be for my Poison Wind Globadiers, which rather works out because those haven't been based yet ...Happy fox to say the least.
^The top most 40mm base is for my Warlord (which will feature a decent more rubble on top of those cobblestones), while the other two are for two of my Rat Ogres. The 18x 25mm splintered deck bases are for my Night Runners. When I make the other 22x bases, I'll make sure to have more raw material so the details don't get squished when stamping. Most of them turned out alright, but some of them you could tell I didn't have enough and/or really should have had the stamp against something solid instead of my fingertips.
Up first will be the poison wind globadiers.... Once I clear up a bit of room on my cutting mat anyways, I kind of have a bunch of gnolls, kitsunes, and minotaurs taking up that space right now ^_^;;;;;;

Okay, I couldn't really resist the silly title that had a touch of alliteration... Guess it's a thing for me or something. Anyways, I figured I'd want to do up a long-term WIP thread featuring a themed army that has the goal of being made mostly of Reaper miniatures... That and hey, I like gnolls and minotaurs, so... Why no! Not quite certain what the precise theme is just yet, but we'll roll with "spots and stripes are awesome, as is a love for axes and mythology in general" as the starter of it all. Initially, this army will be made mostly (if not all) with Bones figures, but eventually metal minis will find their way in. Bones are rather convenient with their pricing, and there is a wide selection on offer!
It's also something to paint other than my various Games Workshop armies (Tau, Catachans, a scattered amount of Space Marines, a few Tyranids (for now), Skaven, as well as (fantasy) Orcs, although I have nowhere near as many greenskins), and my main focus is purely on fun, with fluff to come as things go. That and I very much so plan on spending a good amount of time on each mini, not just for detail, but to improve my own skills in general. One could potentially argue that I intend on making these guys more of my "showpieces", which is something I don't mind the thought of at all
I like how @Glitterwolf formats their posts, so... I'm thiefing parts of it, as it's a nice formatting, and of course provides a reasonable amount of detail for it all, so why not
Pictures were taken with my mobile phone (Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge) because at the time I didn't quite feel like messing around with my G85 - or something to that effect ~_^
First and foremost, we have double trouble with a handsome hunk, I mean a minotaur who means business! 77012 Gnoll Warrior, 77013 Minotaur, and 77236 Bloodmane. White bones doesn't quite look appropriate in my eyes as it's "naked", so let's fix that...
^Both gnolls now have primer on them... And of course the couple of mold lines I missed are blatantly visible... Not that I mind, it's always nice to find them NOW other than a few hours into things...
I'm planning on going somewhat darker for their fur, hence why the medium-ish grey priming job.
Paint used:
09108 Brush-on Primer
09065 Grey Liner
Two parts primer, three parts grey liner, one drop of water to improve flow.
^Not to be outdone, our fearless minotaur jumps into the fray as well, although somewhat lighter than the gnolls. Something about how a fox is thinking about going with a more "traditional" medium brown. Would have used brown liner, but, uhm, don't have that, so grey liner it is.
Paint used:
09108 Brush-on Primer
09065 Grey Liner
Three parts primer, two parts grey liner, one drop of water to improve flow.
^And since I just had to have him on my last order, here we have most of what I'll call our first leader, or even general of it all, 77376 Minotaur Demon Lord, partially test-fit. I ran out of time to get the mold lines on the other six parts, but I'll be working on that today. Goal is to have him assembled today, and quite possibly primered as well. I'm not quite certain as to precisely what colour I'll be going with on him, but for some reason an almost "aflame" reddish-coppery-orange with hints of brown in it come to mind.

Sure, I definitely feel like I already have enough WIP threads going, but at the same time hubby did ask me to work on this one for him, so why not. For some reason I was rather excited he asked me to paint her for him (he's painting the rest of his Circle Orboros Battlegroup Box (PIP 72094))... I blame her cape. It's a rather interesting looking one, filled with all sorts of details. Staff is quite nice too
^So here is where things start. Yup, it isn't the prettiest of jobs for gluing, especially where that staff meets the shoulder. It just wouldn't stick when I put it together, and I think at the time I didn't have my pinning stuff yet. Could be wrong, but for now that's the story I'm sticking with!
^While it was tempting to try and sculpt something, given she's already glued down, I figured I'd use a mix I had made up ages ago of various grades of what I think was Woodland Scenics ballast because it's quick, easy, convenient, and the grains are all sized slightly differently.... And that add a bit more later on, be it rocks and/or various bushes or whatever.
Right off the bat I'm going to say this: I so didn't get all of the seams, and I'm more or less okay with such. Sadly, a lot of them are in really odd places (who puts a seam in the middle of several cloak folds?)
^How things look now. Ahhh, Grey Liner, you're ever so useful it seems. It's pretty much become my go-to for priming, and I love how the colours seem to be somewhat different as they set along the various parts of the mini.
I do understand that having fully assembled her things will be difficult, but it was originally a mini hubby was going to paint, and he asked she be assembled... So I'm taking it as a challenge to undertake now, yes, let's go with that one! Going to be letting the liner dry and fully set/cure/whateverit'scalled and am hoping to spend a bit of time every night on her this week!

Splitting this one off into his own thread, in order to reduce clutter in the original thread, and also because he won't be a random rainbow dragon anymore.
An employee at a local gaming store introduced me to this model, and shortly after seeing it I pretty much decided I very much so wanted to get my paws on it... So I did! Thing is, I don't plan on doing him up in telltale metallic colours, but instead as more of a synthetic creature with a few mechanical elements.
There will be a number of firsts for me with this project...
First time drilling and pinning a mini
First time painting and THEN assembling a mini
Very well might be my first time I start sculpting in a few additional elements in order to have it fully fit my theme (one thought right now is making the engine look a lot more biological)
First time removing parts to add back in later (front leg armour plates will block details on the legs, so will be temporarily removed and then added back on later)
^Right out of the box, I had an issue or two with his design. First and foremost, while those wings are indeed rather gorgeous, they go straight vertical, which bugs me, simply because they hide so much detail, not to mention I personally feel that if it's a mechanical dragon it would have been designed to at least fold up it's wings when they weren't in use. Secondly, it would have meant I would have to have another element that's painted and then assembled, and I'm more into assembly first, paint second. Third, all those various extra details along his spine would be pointless at most angles, since they'd be concealed by the gargantuan wings.
^So some clippers came out, a few snips and twenty minutes of sanding later, we have it so I can maneuver the wings, and make use of that obvious hinge... Add in a decent amount of blutak to hold it in place temporarily...
^And we now have a much more agreeable to me wingspan! There's a lot more that can be done with this in my eyes as well, as he could be about to take off, just landing, etc
That was last week, and catching up from the previous thread. Now let's get onto the good stuff, aka where we're standing today!
^First and foremost, I drilled three pins total per wing... Two 1mm, and one 1.5mm. Three was probably overkill, but I wanted to be downright certain they'd stay in place. I also though they'd be easier to guide in, but boy was I wrong on that front! Took quite a while to get everything lined up how I wanted it.
^A bit of superglue later, and we have a cameo appearance from Citadel's Undercoat Black, a paint I used to be able to mark just where I was to drill along the inside of where the wing tabs were originally to go.
^Alternate angles showing off his current wingspan, as well as the gaps I'm going to get to fill, and maybe add some additional details into. We'll see what precisely happens, but I already have two different ideas dancing in my head about what to do there, with one being electrical wiring, cogs/gears, and various other things to play up on the mechanical side, while the other one is trying to go with the thought of some sort of liquid latex muscle structure. Second one is arguably riskier, but would definitely convey my idea a lot better.

I've had these pics on my camera for a few days, and keep forgetting to upload them... Keep getting distracted by other projects, but nothing wrong with that I say... ^_^;;;;; These photos were taken using my previous way of doing things, and I definitely prefer the "newer" way even if it means a bit more work up front, but there's less editing, and my kit lens is a LOT easier to work with for such up close pictures. Kind of can't wait to get that Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro that's on my wishlist, but right now it's a debate between miniature supplies and camera gear, and the camera gear isn't currently on sale, plus we really could use a wider selection of paints in the house, so.....
Ingrid was definitely an.... Interesting challenge to paint, to say the least. She has a great deal of smaller details to her, aaaaaand she's pint shot glass sized, which adds to things. Interestingly enough, the biggest issue I kept running into was with her gloves, boots, and especially belt. Cloak also gave some issues, even having me somewhat frustrated at first that my initial shadow layer looked a LOT like vertical red and black stripes, I kept it as it was, and added additional layers on, which seems to have partially corrected itself, but looking at the photos, at the right angles it... Still kind of shows that way. Oh well, we learn as we go, right?
This was also the first mini that I attempted something resembling eyes, and I did my best to have it look like she was looking right at the gem itself. It took a few tries, but I managed to get some sort of hazel-brown eye going, although with just the one colour hazel eyes have (not the brown-green mix).